Antidepressant Effects of the Ginsenoside Metabolite Compound K, Assessed by Behavioral Despair Test and Chronic Unpredictable Mild Stress Model.

Antidepressant Effects of the Ginsenoside Metabolite Compound K, Assessed by Behavioral Despair Test and Chronic Unpredictable Mild Stress Model. Neurochem Res. 2018 May 22;: Authors: Song W, Guo Y, Jiang S, Wei L, Liu Z, Wang X, Su Y Abstract Depression is a major social and health problem worldwide. Compound K (CK), an intestinal metabolite of panaxadiol ginsenosides, has been demonstrated to possess significant pharmacological effects on the central nervous system (CNS). Here, we set up this study to investigate the antidepressant effect of CK, and to explore the potential mechanisms underlying this activity. The behavioral despair model and chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) model were established in mice or rats, respectively. Forced swimming test (FST), tail suspension test (TST) and locomotor activity were performed in mice, while the open-field test, food consumption and sucrose preference were assessed in rats. To investigate the underlying mechanism, the levels of endogenous noradrenaline, dopamine (DA), 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and their metabolites in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hippocampus were detected by HPLC coupled with electron detector. The dopamine degradation enzyme (COMT and MAO) expression was measured by western blot. The BDNF and NGF expression were investigated by immunohistochemical staining analysis. The results showed CK (10, 30 mg/kg) intragastric administration for 14 days significantly sho...
Source: Neurochemical Research - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Tags: Neurochem Res Source Type: research